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No. 231,607. Patented Aug. 24,1880.

WEZzzasses f 2 2 672 for ,PEIERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRhPHER, WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT FFICEG EDWARD G. PARKHURST, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENT, OF ONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO THE PRATT &; WHITNEY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE-GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,607, dated August 24, 1880.

Application filed April 26, 1880.-

To all whom it may concern! Be it known that I, EDWARD G. PARK- HURs'r, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machine-Guns; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whereby a person skilled in the art can make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and t0 the letters of reference marked thereon.

Like letters in the figures indicate the same parts.

My improvement relates to a device for keeping the barrels of machine-guns cool when firing.

Heretofore the heating of the barrels has limited the number of charges that could be rapidly fired before they became too hot for use, so that after a period of rapid firing the gun would become dangerous if not allowed to cool.

The object of my invention is to provide a means for keeping the barrels cool, so that any number of charges can be fired through them and for any length of time without heating them to any injurious extent, or rendering any stoppage for cooling necessary.

In carrying out my invention I make use of the principle of nature that water exposed to b the pressure of the atmosphere cannot be heated hotter than about 212 Fahrenheit, and

I have discovered that the barrels of a gun immersed in boiling water will not become 3 5 sufficiently hot to impair their action-in fact that they remain at about the temperature of the boiling water, however rapidly they may be fired, the heat developed only causing the surrounding water to be carried off in steam more or less rapidly.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 shows part of a machine-gun having two stationary barrels provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 shows a 5 top view of the same.

Only the barrel portion of the gun is shown in the drawings.

To the rear of the barrels may be any mechanism for rapidly loading and firing them.

(No model.)

A A are the barrels. They are attached to the breech-block B in the usual manner.

C is a block, into which the front ends of the barrels are set with a watertight joint, and through which they slightly project.

I) is a metallic casing surrounding the bar- 5 rel's and fitting upon the blocks B and C with water-tight joints, so as to form a water-space in the interior of the casing around the barrels. The casing D is intended to be round, as shown in the drawings, butitmay have any other desired cross-section.

E andG are openings in the casingD,which are fitted with suitable covers for closing them water-tight when desired. These covers are shown in the drawings as being similar to those used for hand-holes in boilers and other similar constructions.

The cover at E is provided with a vent, for the escape of steam.

The opening E is used for filling the chamher within the casing D with water, which is usually done when the gun is about to be fired.

A rapid firing of the gun soon heats the water to the boiling-point, after which it remains at the same temperature, the steam escaping through the vent E, if the cover is fastened on. If the water boils out before the firing is finished, more water is poured into the chamber. The barrels should bekept immersed.

When the firing is finished the cover of the opening G is removed and the remaining water discharged. The heat of the metal dries up any remaining moisture from the interior of the chamber, and dry air circulates through the chamber by means of the two openings. When water is not used in firing the two covers are taken off, so that a circulation of air keeps the barrels as cool as possible.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a machinegun, a water-chamber with- 0 out openings below the waterline when in use, composed of a chamber, D, and ends B and C, surrounding the barrels and adapted to hold water in direct contact with them, substantially as described.

2. A device by which water at a boiling temperature without escape, except as steam, is held directly in contact with the barrels of a machine-gun while firing, to prevent heating rect contact with the said barrels, substanthe barrels to a higher temperature than about tially as described.

(31f: boihng water, substantially as de- EDWARD G. PABKHURST. 3. The art of keeping the barrels of a ma- Witnesses: chine-gun suflieiently cool to prevent injury THEO. G. ELLIS,

while firing by means of boiling Water in (li WILMOT HORTON. 

